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Falcons get rid of Horn

Joe Horn, released by the Atlanta Falcons on Tuesday after the team couldn't trade the veteran receiver, said he is relieved he can pursue a job with another team.

The Falcons will receive no return on the guaranteed $2.5 million salary in 2008 for the 36-year-old Horn.

Horn said he wished he could have produced better numbers for team owner Arthur Blank.

"It's a sense of sadness because after every game last year and after the first two preseason games I had to look at Mr. Blank and know that he deserves a winning team and he deserves a championship," Horn told The Associated Press. "I was here and couldn't make it happen. It's kind of sad for me leaving."

Horn was a disappointment in 2007, when he caught only 27 passes for 243 yards and one touchdown after signing a four-year, $14.5 million deal.

Horn sat out voluntary workouts, did not play in the team's first two preseason games because of a hamstring injury and asked to be traded.

"I'm 100 percent ready to run," Horn said Tuesday when asked about the injury.

Horn's agent, Ralph Vitolo, said Dallas, Jacksonville, Seattle and Tennessee could have a need for a veteran receiver.

"Now we're calling these teams and kind of narrowing the scope," Vitolo said. "Joe has been so productive. Somebody like Joe and a team with a need should be a perfect fit."

Vitolo called Horn's hamstring injury "just a nagging thing."

"It was just mentally wearing him down more than physically," he said.

Horn had only five catches for 40 yards in the final three games last season.

"Everything imploded," Vitolo said of the 2007 season. "We couldn't change something we couldn't control. The Petrino thing imploded on us. It wasn't the Falcons' fault and it wasn't Joe's fault. It just all fell apart. He planned on retiring with Atlanta."

The Falcons also have cut ties with veterans Warrick Dunn, Rod Coleman, DeAngelo Hall and Alge Crumpler as they begin a rebuilding season.

"That's what happens in this league," Horn said. "You play awhile and youth comes along. It's their time."